International Platform on Sustainable Finance

Main steps

1. 15 & 19 July 2024

   The International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) organised a webinar to promote knowledge‑sharing related to the common ground taxonomy (CGT) comparison exercise.

   This initiative aimed to further establish the CGT as a tool for enabling interoperability and comparability between taxonomies, serving as a reference for research and comparison in alignment with the principles outlined in the G20 sustainable finance roadmap.

   The webinar consisted of two sessions – one on 15 July, and one on 19 July – featuring the same presentation in each. The presentation and the recording of the webinar are available on the webinar page.

2. 4 December 2023

   In its fourth year, the IPSF focused on three important policy areas

   1. social finance
   2. transition finance
   3. the comparison of taxonomies

   Marking the 2023 IPSF annual event, held on 4 December 2023 under the EU pavilion at COP28, the IPSF published and presented three reports detailing its activities:

   • IPSF annual report 2023
   • IPSF report on social bonds
   • IPSF interim report on implementing transition finance principles
3. November 2022

   In its third year, the IPSF continued the work on two important policy areas (i) comparison of taxonomies and (ii) transition finance. To mark the 2022 IPSF annual event, held on 9 November 2022 under the EU pavilion at COP27, the IPSF published and presented two reports detailing this activity

   • IPSF annual report 2022
   • IPSF report on transition finance
4. June 2022

   Following the publication of the Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report in November 2021, the IPSF launched a call for feedback to consult stakeholders on the CGT activities’ table. The consultation ran from 4 November 2021 until 14 January 2022. In light of the feedback received and further assessments, the CGT activities’ table has been updated with additional activities contributing to climate change mitigation. The current version of the CGT covers 72 climate change mitigation activities that share common ground for both the EU and China taxonomies with regard to the “substantial contribution” criteria.

   • Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report – updated
   • Common Ground Taxonomy Table of Activities - updated
   • Summary of the consultation responses
   • FAQ on the Common Ground Taxonomy Table
   • FAQ on the Common Ground Taxonomy Table - Chinese translation
5. February 2022

   The transition to a climate neutral and sustainable economy is an ongoing process. Financing the transition of all economic sectors and actors, whatever their starting point, and including but not limited to high emitting sectors and activities, raises certain challenges. With the ultimate objective to support the scaling up of financial flows and therefore accelerate the global transition to a climate neutral and sustainable economy, the IPSF established a working group to explore how sustainable finance alignment approaches such as taxonomies, labels and portfolio alignment metrics, as well as corporate strategy and disclosures may integrate transition considerations.

6. 4 November 2021

   In 2021, the work of the IPSF focused on two important policy areas (i) comparison of taxonomies and (ii) sustainability-related disclosure. At the occasion of the IPSF Annual Event organised under the EU Pavilion at the COP26 on 4 November 2021, the following three reports have been published and presented, together with a statement reaffirming IPSF members’ commitment to international cooperation in the development of globally comparable and interoperable sustainability approaches and tools to identify, verify and align investments with sustainability goals, including definitions and taxonomies, taking due account of local specificities and transition considerations.

   • IPSF annual report 2021
   • IPSF Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report
   • IPSF report on ESG disclosure
   • IPSF COP26 Statement

   The IPSF also launched a stakeholders' consultation on the CGT activities’ table that ended on 14 January 2022. The feedback has been carefully considered when updating the CGT activities’ table.

   • Common Ground Taxonomy Table
   • Specific privacy statement: Call for feedback on the result of the technical comparison of some features of the EU and China taxonomies
7. September 2021

   As part of the 2021 priorities of the G20 SFWG, the IPSF together with UNDESA have delivered an input paper setting our 7 high level principles and 10 recommendations to enhance comparability and interoperability of approaches to align investments with sustainability goals.

   IPSF-UNDESA G20 SFWG input paper “Improving compatibility of approaches to identify, verify and align investments to sustainability goals"

8. 16 October 2020

   A first public report on the work of the IPSF was published at the one-year anniversary event of the IPSF that took place on 16 October 2020 on the margins of the IMF annual meeting. The report summarises the IPSF activities of the preceding year, the global trends in sustainable finance initiatives; a first-round mapping and comparison of existing initiatives and an overview of sustainable finance plans in the pipeline in all member jurisdictions.

   • IPSF annual report 2020
   • Statement of the IPSF
   • International Platform on Sustainable Finance one-year anniversary event
9. Show 2 more items
10. 18 October 2019

    On the margins of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank annual meetings in Washington DC, the European Union launched together with relevant authorities of Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kenya and Morocco the International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF). The event was hosted by Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, and Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission with the participation of Yi Gang, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Ukur Yatani, Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury of Kenya.

    • Press release on the creation of the IPSF
    • Joint statement on the IPSF
    • Watch the video of the IPSF launch ceremony